Details on who holds $2B P.E.I. government debt 'not available'

P.E.I. Finance Minister Heath MacDonald has told PC MLA Brad Trivers what he can about who holds the P.E.I. government debt.

Trivershas beentrying find out who Islanders owe roughly$2 billion to, but before Thursday afternoon neither the auditor general or the finance minister hadbeen able to help him.

Interest on that debt is the third largest expense in the provincial budget, coming in at about $348,000 a day.

MacDonaldcould not provide details Wednesday, but returned to the legislature Thursday with a written statement in response.

"The complete list of owners of the P.E.I. debt, as of those of other provinces, is maintained by the Canadian Depository of Securities, but that list is not available to the public or the provinces," he said.

While he does not have details, MacDonald said the debt is mostly held by pension funds, insurance companies and mutual funds.

MacDonald's answer is similar to, with a little more detail, what he heard from Auditor GeneralJane MacAdam through the public accounts committee.

"The province does not have the information on who holds the debentures. There are six or seven syndicates that issue the debentures but the actual holders are confidential and are constantly changing."

On Wednesday, Trivershad expressed frustration at the lack of detail available.

"It's completely unacceptable that the minister of finance does not know who we are paying interest to. Who knows what kind of entities P.E.I. taxpayers are contributing to around the world?" he said.

More P.E.I. news